Claims Conference Workers Guilty in $57 Million Holocaust Fraud Case
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, right, and Julius Berman, chairman of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, sign an agreement to expand benefits to Holocaust survivors. Image by getty images
Three people, including two former employees of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, have been convicted for stealing $57 million intended for Holocaust victims.
Semen Domnitser—who was the director of two of the Claims Conference’s funds from 1999 to 2010—Oksana Romalis, who left the Claims Conference before the fraud was discovered, and a co-conspirator, Luba Kramrish, were found guilty of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud after a half-a-day of deliberations by a jury inside the Federal courtroom in Manhattan.
In a statement, Claims Conference chairman Julius Berman thanked the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and said, “Those who perpetrated this unthinkable fraud enriched themselves by abusing the historic effort to obtain a small measure of justice for Holocaust victims.”
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement, “We said we would not stop until we brought to justice those who committed these unthinkable crimes and today our objective was accomplished.”
In total, 31 individuals have now been convicted in the thefts. According to the FBI and government prosecutors, the $57 million scheme was facilitated by Russian-speaking Claims Conference employees and aided by a network of runners and recruiters who submitted thousands of claims on behalf of people across North America who were ineligible for the funds.
Berman said in his statement that, “The web of conspirators—both former employees and many outsiders—used their knowledge of the organization’s work in order to fabricate and approve false stories of suffering during the Holocaust for monetary gain.”
Additional reporting by Paul Berger
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
